I See You
by Reawakened Clam
Summary: Hayato wasn't weird or crazy like everyone thought. UMAs were real, they just couldn't see them like he did. In which Hayato can see supernatural creatures wandering around that other humans can't see, and finds an unlikely friend in a ghost haunting his desk. AUish
1. Chapter 1

Gokudera sat down in his seat, his eyes glancing down to the shivering, transluscent boy curled up by his desk. He could see the ghost there when he walked in, that being the first to grab his attention as he ignored the scent of the room. Nobody spared the little ball of fluff a single look, as if he weren't there.

This was normal. Only Gokudera could see them anyway, he didn't expect to find anyone else who could as well any time soon.

Gokudera internally sighed, blocking the choked sobs coming from the ghost from his mind. He'd have to get Shamal to take care of it.

A horrible, bitter smell wafting throughout the room invaded his nostils, and he wrinkled his nose, blinking as stormy green eyes looking over to see a small black creature floating around behind the teacher, Nezu. It had a large toothy grin, sharp, paper white eyes and a little wispy tail behind it. The small chitter chatters of more spirits caught his attention, and he looked up at the ceiling where multiple of the little things were floating around, muttering jabs and discouragements and gossip.

He hated those types. He wouldn't have expected there to be so many in Namimori.

The ghost by his side continued to cry as the teacher kept going on about alegbra bullshit (not that anyone not aiming for some kinda special job like scientist or something would need anyway).

The ghost merely buried his face into his knees as the little gremlins, as Gokudera liked to call them much to Shamal's annoyance, whispered _"Dame-Tsuna Dame-Tsuna finally gone gone gone dead_!" None of his new classmates noticed.

Gokudera closed his eyes with the mental note to tell Shamal of the infestation of gremlins. They were annoying.

...o0o...

After class ended, Gokudera sat at his desk as everyone else left, scaring off anyone who tried approaching with a feirce scowl.

The sky outside started to dim into a warm orange, as Gokudera finally got up, tired of watching the ghost and the gremlins fly about. The silveret kneeled in front of the ghost, taking in the wild, fluffy brown hair, painfully thin frame, short stature and round golden-brown eyes that looked red and puffy from crying for who knew how long.

Honestly, it was a rather pathetic sight, but not really uncommon among all the ghosts Gokudera's seen, unfortunately. "Oi, twig." He said, trying to keep quiet at least a little so the ghost wouldn't try fading away into nothingness to escape.

The ghost- no, _boy_ , he was alive at some point too- snapped his head up at Gokudera, looking hopeful for a second, before said hope fizzled and died in his eyes, disbelief and doubt replacing it.

Gokudera hated that look. It was so pathetic and... sad. Just _sad_ , he could see the hurt clear as day.

"Oi, I'm talkin' to ya, yanno." The gh- no, _boy_ sent him another weary glance, sniffing and tears threatening to fall again. The brunet glanced around, in search of anything else this new boy could've been talking to.

Nobody wanted to talk to the Dame when he was alive and everyone ignored him when he was... _no_. He _wasn't dead_ , there was no way...

Gokudera scowled, fazing a hand through the boy's translucent shoulder. It was freezing to the touch, and the clearly dead boy jumped, yelping at it.

Gokudera knew touch to a ghost felt scorching hot in comparison to what a living person felt, Shamal had told him.

"Got your attention now, brat?" The brunet stared at him, a dictionary's worth of emotions dancing across his face. He was an open book in that sense.

" _Y-You d-don't_..." His voice was soft, slightly higher pitched than a normal boy's as well. Gokudera merely nodded, training his eyes on the brunet in front of him. The boy looked ready to cry again. _"G-Gokudera-san...? How...?"_ Of course he knew his name. He had been there the whole time, including the introduction to the class. He mumbled and stuttered, but Gokudera just sighed, deciding to take it slow.

From what he could see, this ghost was a victim of sorts, bullying, likely considering his attitude. It was harsh and cruel, but he couldn't deny what he saw. "I see you." He said steadily, keeping eye contact.

The brunet's already expressive eyes widened, and he scooted back, speechless and staring at him dumbly. He opened his mouth, changed his mind, and closed it. Multiple times. The brunet was starting to resemble a gaping fish.

Gokudera just stayed rooted to his spot to let the brunet absorb that. It was likely the kid hadn't had any actual communication in a while if his reaction said anything.

It was a shame there weren't many people in the world who knew how to send stray ghosts on their way. But this one... Gokudera frowned at the strong tug he was feeling from the brunet. This one seemed _tied down_ to Earth, not just lost.

This was a rare case.

They sat in silence, the smaller's quiet hiccups being the only noise to be heard inside. "I see you." Gokudera repeated. The other boy froze. "It runs in my family from my mother's side." He explained, and the ghost gave him a confused look, but absorbed the information. Gokudera pursed his lips, before carefully saying, "My guardian is well experienced in cases like yours, he can help no matter how pervy and useless he may seem."

The boy tilted his head, even more confused. " _Cases like mine...?" Denial._

The silveret paused, before deciding on not sugarcoating the glaring obvious fact. "You died, and your soul is trapped here."

The brunet shook and started crying again, eyes wide and fearful and full of denial. " _N-No I'm not! I can't be dead I-!"_

"You're dead, you can't hide from the truth any longer."

The ghost wailed, slumping down and curling up into a tight ball again, muttering protests and choking on his own sobs.

 _He really should know he's dead now, denial is an ugly thing_ , Gokudera thought sadly. He stared down at the shivering form as he faded away to somewhere else to mope and grieve for himself.

Gokudera sighed, running a hand over his face tiredly. Shamal, that pervy supernatural doctor, no matter what, was better at interacting with the dead than he was. Gokudera figured he probably shouldn't have said anything to the boy, leaving it to Shamal. The doctor had his work cut out for him once Gokudera went home with the report.

A ghost in denial, a ridiculous infestation of grimlins in the classrooms, he swore he saw some low level demons in the alleyways hanging around the thugs and yakuza earlier. Who knew what else was there?

That idiot Iemitsu had once said a couple months ago that Namimori would be a perfect place to settle down and _relax,_ in case the doctor and his charge would be interested. He had even said something about him befriending his 'adorable' son. If the kid took after his father then Gokudera didn't think he could handle a mini-Iemitsu around. Gokudera growled, not for the first time cursing and swearing to not trust people without the _Sight_ or at least some proper information to tell them stuff or give suggestions.

...o0o...

Tsuna curled up outside the middle school, watery, dead eyes watching as the baseball team practiced, his former classmate making another homerun, recieving cheers from his teammates.

 _"I see you."_

He shivered at those words, letting the tears fall as he buried his head in his arms, which were propped up by his knees.

 _I'm not dead I'm not dead I'm not dead I'm alive alive yeah alive not dead-_

 _He can see me._

Tsunayoshi Sawada, age thirteen, deceased. Three gunshot wounds, to the right thigh, to the collarbone, and to the head, shooter had been caught a few minutes after and identified to be a member of a local yakuza. His only explaination for why was "The Boss paid for the brat's head."

Tsunayoshi Sawada's ghost was chained to his old school to watch as his classmates could have and enjoy what he couldn't.

 _"I see you."_

The brunet cried, shaking his head.

 _I'm dead dead gone dead foreve-! But h -_

 _"I see you."_

...o0o...

 **A/N: Well then. There's that, poor Tsuna, he didn't deserve it. This idea's been brewing for a while in my head so I just went and typed this up, not sure when I'll continue it, so don't expect anything too soon. Sorry if anyone was OCC, but I guess they have a small excuse of this being a bit of an AU so... still though. Idk what to call the little things floating around either, they arent anything real, I'm just making this crap up. I actually have no idea what I'm doing but I hope y'all like it somewhow anyway XD**

 **Anyhoo, I'd like to hear your thoughts on this idea in the reviews! I love hearing other people's thoughts!**


	2. Chapter 2

Shamal honestly knew that he most certainly was not the best suited for his position.

As a doctor, sure, he was incredible with incurable deseases. As a hitman, he was of high caliber, one even the Varia scouted out at some point. As a supernatural doctor and exorcist of sorts, or whatever one called him nowadays, he was a bit above average (then again those with that profession were few and far between, he didn't have anyone to compare to so he'd take up the title of 'the best' anyway). No, he didn't mean those, as a caretaker, he wasn't the person one would immediately turn to as a babysitter, much less as a dad.

Which made him question how it had gotten into Lavina's head that he should be the one to take in Hayato after she died. He was a hitman of all things, what made her think he was well suited to taking care of her own two year old kid?

Sometimes, Shamal figured it was the puppy eyes. He always fell for those stupidly cute puppy eyes. Why he picked unassuming looking Lavina as a friend, he'd never know.

Of course he didn't regret befriending her as kids. He'd never regret it, after all, she explained to him why he saw little slimes on the streets, lost souls in the apartments, and tiny balls of pure evil and terror messing with him all the time (of course they weren't anything big in reality, but hey he was a little brat at the time, to him anything weird looking is a tiny demon that eats kids).

So Lavina had given him a tired stare when he looked her over so many years ago. A weary, much too old look in those beautifully green eyes. A bandage wrapped around her head from when she took a tumble for the first time. She had smiled at him, giving him a request.

One he might've regretted when he first took it on, but definitely didn't later down the road.

Now, finally settling down in Lavina's original hometown of Namimori after a reccomendation from his... not exactly 'friend' but more of an annoying fellow member of the underground he was unfortunate enough in having enough contact with the man.

Iemitsu Sawada, quite the irritating but thorough and efficient fellow. He had always gone on and on about his 'cute son' and 'gorgeous wife' in Namimori, and how Shamal and Hayato should settle down there sometime, perhaps Hayato and his little 'Tuna-Fish' could become friends.

 _Shamal sometimes thought to himself that Iemistu had no right to call that poor kid his son if he didn't help raise him. He didn't know what it was like. Just because he was good with his job didn't mean he was good with his family._

But the hitman knew Hayato needed a few friends, and perhaps the peaceful air of Namimori could calm the little ball of angry explosions down.

Lavina would've liked it, and probably would have done the same. She had told him stories of the small town, about the beautiful mountains and the lovely people and how the rulers of the town, the Hibaris, made sure that any supernatural activity was kept to a minimum.

When they finally did decide to settle down for a while, Shamal chose Namimori. Hayato was thirteen, and he certainly didn't wan't to deal with a teenager while traveling around taking hits.

Of course, everything Iemistu had told him was almost eight months ago. Shamal should've known it'd be outdated to some degree.

...o0o...

The black haired doctor was in the kitchen, trying to follow a cookbook he had gotten from one of the neighbors when he heard the door open and the sound of two feet shuffling into their new home.

It'll take time to adjust to a more... domestic life, and Shamal hoped to be back in buisness by the time Hayato's at least eighteen or so. But for now... might as well try enjoying it. "You back?"

"What's it sound like?" was the rough reply. Shamal ignored the tone, turning back to the book. _Okay so chop up two teaspoons of garlic and ginger_... "How was school?"

"Full of idiots." _Of course_. He heard Hayato drop his bag onto the carpet, and plop down on the couch in the living room, which was only a room away from where he was.

Honestly it was a nice house, two floors, kitchen and living room seperated by a kitchen counter, with a large window in the living room showing them a nice view of the neighborhood. Two bedrooms and one bathroom upstairs, another bathroom and laundry room downstairs, study room under the stairs. A bit spacey for only two people, but it worked for them. Maybe he'll get Hayato a cat so the kid could learn some responsibility, and to add another occupant to the rather empty house. Shamal knew the brat loved cats, it'd also give him something to do when he isn't at work (He had managed to get a job at a small shop at the mall, plenty of cute girls and a good pay).

"Look Hayato, I want you to at least try making a few fr-"

"There's also a ghost haunting my desk."

Shamal was lucky he didn't accidently cut his finger with the knife. He glanced back at Hayato questioningly. "Didn't Iemitsu say this town was free of all that?"

The silver haired teen shrugged, leaning back on the couch lazily. "That was months ago, Shamal. I heard from the brats that some things have happened in that time." The boy paused, before sitting up, turning to look the doctor in the eye. "Someone had _died_ there, Shamal. Shot to death by a member of the local yakuza. Nana Sawada also seems to have moved, and the Hibaris died. Only their kid is left to take care of the place, though his aunt's still here. Gremlin's everywhere too-"

"They're called Tem-"

" _Gremlin's_ stinkin' up the place, keep chattering too." Hayato repeated stubbornly, and Shamal just sighed, turning back to the cookbook. _Two tablespoons of honey and one fourth cup of soy sauce..._

"So we got ghosts and... gremlins, as you call them, at your school?"

Hayato grunted in response, turning to pull out one of his _Mysteries of the Universe_ magazines from his bag. Shamal rolled his eyes as he dumped the chicken in the pan.

There's probably more then.

"I'll go take a look later tonight then." Shamal watched the chicken sizzle and stirred them around a bit.

After a few moments, Hayato, not even looking up just commented, "It's gonna taste like crap."

"I'd like to see you do better, brat."

...o0o...

Shamal climbed over the school gate with a grunt, mumbling about how doctors shouldn't do this so much as he dropped to the ground. The man huffed, brushing himself off as he picked up his bag, which had been tossed over the gate earlier.

He walked up to the door, trying the handle and finding it locked. Shamal sighed, before reaching into his bag and pulling out various knick knacks to try picking the lock. He internally growled tiredly. Why the heck did he say he'd do it at midnight of all times...

 _Click_

He stood straight, pushing the door open carefully, and walked in, eyes squinting in the dim lighting for the right classroom _. 1-A... 1A... 1A... found it!_

He slid the door open, peeking inside before reeling back. It reeked of hate and gossip, which could've been described as the washed out scent of flaming dog crap mixed with garbage. Shamal growned, pulling the collar of his shirt up to cover his nose as he steeled himself, venturing inwards.

Shamal had to admit the classroom, a place that's supposed to be full of chattering and lively brats in the middle of the day looked rather lonely in the dead of night.

Especially when he saw the light shimmer of a ghost by one of the desks. It- no, definitely a he, a rather small and cute looking he but most certainly a he- was curled up by the desk, hazy eyes flitting around the classroom and muttering what sounded like names and what the people those names belonged to did.

Shamal sighed, walking over as he slipped the bag off his shoulder- _okay those are Sky Flames he's feeling why are there Sky Flames here_ -

Shamal paused in his step, eyes widening as he felt the pure harmony wash over him. _Sky Sky Sky that boy's a dead Sky but there's still Sky Flames here?_

The boy- _SkySkySkySky his untouched Mist Flames burned but he's deaddeaddead_ \- seemed to notice him, and tensed up, staring at him questioningly but not looking like he really expected an explanation. But he did look hopeful.

Hayato must have tried talking with him.

"Hey kiddo," He slarted slowly, letting his shirt drop from his face. The smell was horrid but he'd deal with it for the clearly rattled ghost. The boy froze, gaping like a fish of sorts at him.

 _"You too...?"_ He nodded, and the ghost looked ready to have a heart attack and die again. _"You... related to Gokudera-san...?"_ Shamal shook his head. " _Oh..."_ The ghost dropped his gaze to the floor as silence descended on them.

His Sky Flames are crying why is it here isn't he dead?

"I'm not blood related..." Shamal started slowly, and the brunet looked back up at him. "I'm just Hayato's guardian-"

" _I don't need your help!"_ the raven haired man jumped at the sudden yell, snapping his head up to see the ghost jump to his translucent feet ( _no squeak of sneakers of ruffling of clothes he's dead_ -). The boy- too young to die- gave him a hard stare, burning with determination. _"I... I don't need to..."_ he bit his lip as he watched the ghost struggle with his words.

 _Such pure Sky Flames so much but he's dead_ \- "Look, kid, you can't-"

" _But I wan't to live_!" The Sky Flames burst out, practically pushing his own Mist Flames back to his very core, and Shamal jumped to his feet, backpedaling from the ghost. Those Flames were so overwhelming- _"I wan't to live! I can't be dead I need to do so much! I'm not just Dame-Tsuna I swear I can do more but I-I'm_..." The ghost was crying, ridiculously pure Sky Flames leaking off him.

 _Ah, that's it._

"Kid, calm down." The boy- _Dame-Tsuna?-_ hiccuped, shivering from the tone. Shamal sighed tiredly. He met the boy's wavery gaze. "I don't think I could let your soul move on even if I tried."

"... _huh?"_ The brunet tiled his head slightly in confusion. " _Wha... d'you mean...?"_

Shamal looked the kid over again, frowning for a moment. _Shot to death_. _"I want to live!"_ What did this brat do to deserve _that_?

He shouldered his bag again, starting to reach out to ruffle the kid's hair, but stopped himself. He couldn't touch him anyway.

"It's a bit complicated, kid. Don't worry over it, I'll be back another time with Hayato, alright? What's your name?"

The kid stared at him, dumbfounded. He opened him mouth to say something, then closed it, furrowing his brow thoughtfully. After a moment, he finally responded.

"I'm... Ts-Tsuna... Sawada... Tsunayoshi..."

Shamal froze, staring wide eyed at the kid- _Tsunayoshi!-_ who shifted uncomfortably at the look. "Did you say... Sawada? _Tsunayoshi_?" The kid- _Tsuna no way_ \- nodded meekly, and Shamal cursed under his breath, making the brunet flinch slightly.

 _Iemitsu gushed on about his adorable son and beautiful wife, spewing compliments and bragging shamelessly at how 'amazing' they were. Shamal had tuned the annoying man's voice out, but did hear the names Tsunayoshi and Nana pop up. He filed the names away for later, as Iemitsu went on about how his Hayato could be friends with his little Tuna Fish._

 _Damn._

In front of him stood the ghost of Sawada Tsunayoshi, tied down by his Dying Will, unable to be freed. Sky Flames filling the room and calming the occupants' with the pure harmony, as a little ghost looked on with tears in his eyes and memories of gunshots and blood fresh in his mind.

 _A lot can change in a few months._

...o0o...

 **A/N: Well then. Still surprised I managed over 2K words for the chapter. Ahaha, what's word count consistency. I feel like I butchered Shamal as well lol, but he doesn't seem to appear very much in canon anyway so...** _ **close enough**_ **. Also the thing Shamal's making, Sweet and Spicy Chicken. Only thing I know how to make irl so I went with that.**

 **Also shameless advertising but I have a Discord Server we can chat in! (Remove the spaces)** https : / / discord . gg / yZb5f7s

 **I'd like to hear your thoughts in the reviews!**


	3. Chapter 3

When Sawada was gone, it was like a puzzle piece went missing.

The whole picture wasn't complete without the missing piece. The one piece nobody could find, the one irreplacable piece of the puzzle.

Yamamoto was usually one to look at the whole picture, not really minding each individual piece of the puzzle as if it were something special. They all blurred together in his mind.

Because they didn't really care for him, just the chunk of the picture that was the _baseball star_ Yamamoto Takeshi. They didn't really care for the bits and pieces that made up the baseball star, the ones that made up _Yamamoto Takeshi_.

But he didn't realize just how important and needed each piece of the puzzle was until Sawada was long gone. The picture wasn't complete without Dame-Tsuna to elict mocks and jeers from the class. There was an empty seat where there used to be a brunet hunched over a notebook, brow furrowed as the hopeless student tried comprehending the mess of scribbles poorly explaining various math equations.

It was too quiet in the classroom now, and he noticed.

So when the bell rung to break the suffocating silence, he was one of the first to get up and out of the classroom, into the busy halls where he could get dragged off to practice. The sport had been a good distraction when he didn't hear the gunshots ringing in his ears.

 _He could have helped but he didn't and now it was too late._

Now, Yamamoto was far from one of Sawada's friends, heck he barely knew his classmate existed over half the time despite them being in the same classes for years. But even then it felt... empty without him there. The missing puzzle piece no one was getting back.

Baseball wasn't.. really enjoyable anymore, Yamamoto thought once. He had quickly shaken the thought out of his head the moment it popped up, because the sport was his life, he wasn't anything without it, just plain old _Yamamoto Takeshi_.

But he couldn't really play if everytime that ball came at him and all he heard was painfully loud _bang bang bangs_ and dying screeches drowning out the calls of his teammates and cheering of those who came to watch.

He was _right there._

Right there, so close but _so far away_ -

"Hey! Yamamoto, you alright?" Yamamoto snapped out of his daze, finding himself facing a teammate of his, who seemed to be waiting for him to throw the baseball, lowering the bat for a moment. "You've been really out of it for a while..."

No, I'm not fine, it could happen again and I won't be able to do anything again- "Ahaha, I'm fine, Taniguichi! I guess I just didn't get enough sleep last night." _Liar._

Taniguichi gave him a curious stare, before shrugging it off and readying the metal bat again. "I don't really see why you need to practice pitching with me-"

The ball flew right past the batter before he could even blink, and instinctively flinched away from it. "You're already better than the entire team combined!"

Yamamoto straightened, giving his hand a slight frown- the ball felt heavier than usual...- before wiping the look off his face as quickly as possible, laughing it off. "Well the machines aren't as creative as actual people so it's great to work with my teammates!"

Taniguichi opened his mouth to respond, only to get cut off as the coach called out to them, motioning towards some others who were running laps. Taniguichi glanced back at Yamamoto, who had left to join the others, before sighing and running after him.

 _He didn't like being a part of the crumbling picture with the empty seat._

...o0o...

Barely a month after Yamamoto had heard the earsplitting gunshots and dying screams, _so close to the baseball field_ , a silver haired transfer student whose appearance _screamed_ delinquent replaced the spot the missing puzzle piece was supposed to go.

The excitement of the class had quickly died down when they all realized it. Gokudera Hayato now sat where their missing piece was supposed to go.

Where their Dame-Tsuna was supposed to be, shy and quiet as always and this new guy just so easily took up that blank spot.

But it looked off.

The picture didn't look right.

There was an angry red blended together with violent purples and vicious blues and blinding yellows and sadistic greens- but no soft orange. There wasn't a warm, golden sunset orange there anymore to perfectly compliment the image.

Gokudera was almost a piece they needed, but not quite, his piece didn't fit there. Somewhere else, maybe, but not there. Not that spot, that irreplaceable spot where someone else was supposed to be. Someone who nearly all of Namimori had called useless.

Sawada Tsunayoshi wasn't useless, because if he was then why did it feel so wrong to have some supposed useless piece replaced?

Yamamoto always felt weird walking into a classroom that felt both one person too empty and one person too full. He never payed attention to the pieces before because there was nothing to really see until one of them was gone.

The whole image was off.

Sasagawa and Kurokawa weren't chattering away about some cake shop or book or anything. Instead the two girls were quietly looking over at Sawada's- no, _Gokudera's_ seat where several people were crowded around to pester the transfer rather than splitting into their own little groups to chat with each other.

The baseball player knew there was something weird about the newcomer. _The intruder in their puzzle_ \- no, he doesn't know. He doesn't know about Sawada, he doesn't know what he's indirectly done by getting transferred to their class.

It's not Gokudera's fault he's replacing the supposed to be irreplaceable piece so easily. As if a silent reminder for them all to just _move on_.

 _Because Dame-Tsuna wasn't there to be the one to take the brunt of their verbal abuse anymore._

Yamamoto internally winced at that thought, fully aware of what his classmates have said just over a month ago. While he himself never did or said anything, it was both a good and bad thing he didn't.

On one hand he didn't contribute to the bullying, far too busy with baseball and his own little world in the supposedly perfect picture. On the other he didn't do anything to stop it, far too busy with baseball and his own little world in the supposedly perfect picture.

He was just as guilty as his peers.

 _Maybe if someone had been his friend._

 _Maybe if someone had been there with him._

 _Maybe he would still be here, happier and alive._

 _Maybe Sawada would still be alive._

But thinking of useless 'maybe's and 'what if's wasn't going to get Yamamoto anywhere. It wouldn't get any of them anywhere, because Sawada was dead and gone.

 _Yamamoto still hears the gunshots._

...o0o...

After a good two weeks with the irreplacable no-good _getting replaced_ by a fangirl magnet, Yamamoto could conclude that Gokudera Hayato was weird.

Like, _really_ weird.

Sure, Yamamoto could understand that the silveret was ridiculously smart despite appearances, and that he seemed to really like cats, and the supernatural.

...Actually, Gokudera's obsession with UMAs, demons, ghosts, and all things considered out of this world was a bit weird.

Whenever someone bothered to listen he'd launch into rants and rambles about so many different strange creatures and spirits as if they were real. Yamamoto clearly remembered hearing once that the boy thought a ghost was haunting his desk.

At first, Yamamoto was angry, because Gokudera probably _knew_ and was trying a disgusting joke on them. Because someone _had_ died. Then he thought that maybe Gokudera was right, and there really was a ghost - _Sawada_...? - haunting his desk, ready to take revenge on his tormentors.

But then just left it at the conclusion that Gokudera was just super into his UMA hunting hobby and genuinely believed in something that wasn't true or real. Just delusional to a certain degree.

After all, Yamamoto didn't see any tiny black demons floating around, whispering horrible rumors and jabs in people's ears. He didn't see any floating chairs or anything that could say there was a ghost.

Yeah... just Gokudera's imagination.

Yamamoto carried on with his day, trying to ignore how Gokudera would sometimes look over at the side of his desk with a pitying smile and the light would shimmer oddly as is reflecting orr something that wasn't there. He'd want to block out the quiet crying ringing in his ears and try sleeping it off.

It must have been his imagination when he heard a soft but so painfully familiar yet not voice murmur to the silveret, _"So... you can really s-see me, Gokudera-san?"_

Yamamoto didn't imagine Gokudera's gruff confirmation as surrounding students looked over at the silveret curiously, wonding who he could be talking to but finding no one.

Yamamoto definitely heard something. _Someone_.

...o0o...

"Didn't expect _you_ of all people to be able to see, Baseball Idiot."

Yamamoto scratched the back of his head awkwardly, trying to laugh it off. He wondered for a brief moment if this was a mistake, if Gokudera was just delusional and seeing things, but shook the thought away. He had to know if there was any proof for Gokudera's claims, for all he knew Gokudera wasn't lying.

The UMA obsessed boy was giving him a judgemental glare as Yamamoto weakly explained. "Ah, I don't really _see_ anything, but I swear I could hear Sawada-san talking, then you replied in the middle of class, and..."

He trailed off as Gokudera furrowed his brow thoughtfully. "So you heard the twig talking, but didn't see anything?"

 _"U-uhm, Gokudera-san... h-he... can he...?"_

Yamamoto perked up when he heard the voice again, closer this time. The voice he was sure belonged to his supposedly dead classmate still came in a little quiet and static-like, but he heard it.

Gokudera seemed to notice, and quirked a brow. "You heard that then?"

There was a small squeak as Yamamoto nodded, "A little quiet and fading a bit, but yeah!"

A slightly muffled string of noises met his ears, and he managed to make out something along the lines of 'fake' and 'joke'.

Yamamoto couldn't help but feel a bit hurt at that.

Gokudera saw the look on his face, and turned to... something, it looked like he was staring down a pencil case on one of the desks, starting to talk as gently as possible as if coaxing a small cat out from a tight space. Which honestly wasn't too great considering Gokudera but it was definitely a noticable difference. "Hey, the Baseball Idiot doesn't seem to be lyin', pretty sure I'd notice if he was."

 _"O-oh... uhm... s-sorry Gokudera-san..."_

Yamamoto paused for a moment, contemplating wether or not he should open his mouth and start chatting with a person he couldn't see, before deciding hey, it shouldn't hurt _too_ much to respond, right? Of course he might scare Sawada off if he was too sudden about it, and from the way Gokudera was talking, Sawada was indeed a ghost, a very taumatized and lonely one.

"...Hey, no need to apologize, Sawada-san..." Yamamoto tried carefully, looking over at the general direction Gokudera was staring at. He could hear a surprised shriek and mentally backpedaled, hearing sirens go off as alarms blared because he might've just scared off the kid he should have befriended but never did-!

 _"Ya-Yamamoto-san... y-you... you c-can hear me...?"_

Yamamoto could imagine a fluffy haired brunet standing in front of him, peering up with a mix of shock, disbelief, and hope on his face. Yamamoto liked to think his imagination was much more accurate than the dull photographs in the yearbooks and on the walls. This Sawada in his head was much brighter, much more lively-looking _(but he's really not)._

 _It still wasn't the actual, living Sawada though._

Imagining his invisible conversational partner in his head helped clear his mind a bit. "Yeah... yeah I can, Sawada-san."

 _"... Tsuna... Just Tsuna is fine..."_

...o0o...

 **A/N: Well I managed to quickly type this up pretty late at night so yayyy! No idea what I'm doing but eh who cares YAMAMOTO IS IN THE HOUSSSEEEE- ah, and** **Happy New Year! Hoping for a good 2019 ahhh have a crappy chapter to celebrate XD**

 **Also thanks to xue on Discord for checking over this chapter!**

 **Anyway I'd love to hear your thoughts in the reviews!**


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